Amsterdam, Abingdon, Scrubs and Patch
It was a busy schedule this weekend with XC relays and the latest instalment of the Rob Jackson road race championships. There were also some popular autumn marathons, but the biggest news was Tom Aldred's first place at the Amsterdam Half Marathon.
In the more prosaic surroundings of Wormwood Scrubs, there was another stellar performance from Ni'ia, but Celine was probably this week's man of the match for taking one for the team. Twice. Chris 'Scoop' Hartley provides the following report of the Southern Cross Country Relays:
"Heathside seniors fielded two full teams in both the Senior Women's and Senior Men's events. Where our Juniors were is anyone's guess. Actually, probably best not to guess. They weren't at the Scrubs though.
"In the Senior Women's race, Heathside A (Celine Murray, Cathy Jeremiah, Ni'ia Hothersall) ran strongly to finish 5th from the 22 teams competing. Special mention to Celine, who was substituted into the A team at short notice and ran a fantastic first leg.
"Ni'ia, chased several teams down in the last leg and finished the 3+km course in 11.47 - second fastest time of the day (from 71 competitors). Ni'ia is fast establishing herself as one of the nippiest cross-country runners in the region. She bakes an excellent banana loaf too, which we all enjoyed afterwards."
"Heathside B (Louisa Pointon, Elinor East, and (ahem), Celine) finished a creditable 12th from 22. Nice one, Ladies!
"In the Senior Men's race, Heathside's A team (Chris Norris, Dan Madams, Ryan McCrickerd, Andrew Brooker) finished in 10th position (26 teams competed). Congratulations to Andrew, who was our fastest runner over the c5km course, in 15.48, and to Ryan McCrickerd, who justified his last-minute promotion to the A team with a solid 16.47. Heathside's B team (Jacob Howe, Chris Hartley, James Dark, Jonathan Litchfield) finished 22nd from 26.
"A special mention to Asa Cusack, lead runner in the C team, who was happily chatting to a mate when the start gun was fired. Realising his mistake, Asa finally set off a minute or so behind the field and managed not to finish last! Respect, Asa. But, you know, pay attention next time! (Not that it mattered too much, as we only had two men in our C team, so we scored a DNF there.)"
Road races
In the major road race of the weekend (sorry, marathoneers) we had scores of Heathsiders at the Cabbage Patch 10, the latest instalment of the Rob Jackson road race champs. Conditions were bright and blustery, and the organisers saw fit to send the field up a short flight of steps at 8½ miles.
Andrew Brooker was first man home again, in a scorching 56 mins with Luke Wynne also inside 60 minutes, while Rebecca was our first lady in 66 mins. Honour of the day goes to Caroline White, who scooped up the VW50 prize of a case of beer and a cabbage, neither of which are likely to make her run any faster. Except possibly the cabbage, and I think we'd best leave it at that.
Otherwise worthy of mention are Steve Armstrong for squeaking one extra Rob Jackson point out in a sprint to the line with Gavin and a few people who doubled up after doing the XC relays the day before: Andrew, Jacob, Cathy and Elinor. Well done everyone who secured a PB, although most were bewailing a slower time than last year. Rollercoasters all round, I say.
Returning briefly to Amsterdam, Tom wasn't the only runner in action: James L chased him gamely round the half marathon course but ended up having to concede defeat by 20-odd minutes. In the full marathon, George pounded round in 2:45, followed closely (well, half an hour behind) by Phil. If there are any other Heathside results for this one, send them over!
In the Abingdon Marathon, there was PB glory for Jim C (3:02) and Gavin P (3:38), and a 3:42 for Henry H-G. As the marathon was used by several counties for their county champs, there may have been some gongs for our lot in the not-massively-oversubscribed Middlesex champs.
Another hardy Heathsider who doubled up on weekend racing after the relays was Raymond W, although he doesn't describe it as an unqualified success: "Myself and Alun Nash ran at the Jill Oliver 10K. We were both at least 10 minutes outside our PBs as I almost fainted at 5K so Alun was kind enough to wait for me to settle down and we resumed running again."
Random pic
Jim Marshall looks dashing in a somehow familiar kit at the Civil Service XC champs.
We had three competitors, results below
Multisport corner
There were a couple of attempts at things ending in -athlon over the weekend, although it sounds like the protagonists were sorely punished for their foolhardiness. First, Simon H's account of quite a warm European Middle Distance Triathlon Championship in Mallorca:
"The sadists started the race at midday so we were running the hilly half-marathon in 34 C and unfortunately my troublesome Achilles made an unwelcome reappearance after 2km of the run so there was an awful lot more walking going on that I had planned. But there was an unbelievable amount of support on the course and from teammates and I managed to avoid a personal worst finishing time even with a 2 hour+ run."
Not to be outdone, John Driscoll sacked off the Cabbage Patch to take part in the Althorp Duathlon with a similar amount of success:
"Despite a bit of cramp on the bike leg, all was going well until the final run. Jelly legs were expected but at the first hill both quads and hamstrings seized up, and I stood there wondering how to stretch as if I'd toppled over, I would never have got up! Luckily nothing was pulled or torn and once thighs had stopped spasming, I hobble-jogged around in a not-so-quick 29 ins for 5.7km."
Results
Amsterdam Half Marathon
1 Tom Aldred 1:07:21
TBC James Lynch 1:27:47
Amsterdam Marathon
89 George Stewart 2:45:34
TBC Phil Hogg 3:15:48
Abingdon Marathon
68 Jim Connell 3:02:23
301 Gavin Parish 3:38:03
337 Henry Hamilton 3:42:32
Civil Service XC Champs
26 Tony Killilea 40:32 (member of first V50 team)
36 Tim Marshall 42:22
64 Pete Crockford 46:56
Jill Oliver 10K
TBC Alun Nash 56:36
TBC Raymond Watts 57:07
SEAA XC Relays
Senior Women
Heathside A: 5th from 22 (Champions: TVH)
Celine Murray 12:45
Cathy Jeremiah 13:20
Ni'ia Hothersall 11:47
Heathside B: 12th from 22
Louisa Pointon 14:20
Elinor East 13:48
Celine Murray 13:51
Senior Men
Heathside A: 10th from 26 (Champions: Belgrave)
Chris Norris 16:04
Dan Madams 16:20
Ryan McCrickerd 16:47
Andrew Brooker 15:48
Heathside B: 22nd from 26
Jacob Howe 17:38
Chris Hartley 17:26
James Dark 20:35
Jonathan Litchfield 18:20
Heathside C: DNF
Asa Cusack 17:30
Raymond Watts 21:30
Cabbage Patch 10
23 Andrew Brooker 00:56:08
62 Luke Wynne 00:59:31
81 Mark Anderson 01:00:42
99 Steve Armstrong 01:01:40
100 Gavin Evans 01:01:41
110 Howard Gold 01:02:17
124 Leo Burningham 01:02:48
127 Jacob Howe 01:02:54
135 Phil Wright 01:03:38
149 Dan McKeown 01:04:13
151 Jonathan Hopkin 01:04:22
171 Rebecca Bunting 01:05:29
194 Catherine Jeremiah 01:06:33
201 Joe McKeown 01:06:46
244 Trevor Wilson 01:08:21
254 Jonathan Litchfield 01:08:50
279 Elinor East 01:09:34
310 Mark George 01:10:47
339 Brian Boyle 01:11:48
351 Chris Hewertson 01:12:09
401 Bridgit Napleton 01:13:39
434 Emilia Vynnycky 01:14:39
569 John Roberts 01:17:59
573 Declan McIntyre 01:18:01
580 Robert Bowler 01:18:08
597 Caroline White 01:18:44
709 Agi Palanki 01:21:17
757 Oliver Pound 01:22:34
832 Ken Townson 01:24:33
1030 Edyta Szot 01:28:59
1045 Sandra Buckton 01:29:15
1061 Laura Boothman 01:29:43
1072 Claire Sliwerski 01:30:05
1131 Rebecca Taylor 01:31:15
1303 Carolina Graterex 01:36:07
1323 Fran Owen 01:36:45
1332 Martin Skerrett 01:37:00
1682 Esther Pierce 01:55:58
Palma Half Marathon
874 Paul Silverman 1:49:14
Chicago Marathon
TBC Fran Norman 03:43:44
European Middle Distance Triathlon Championship
32 Simon Hazel 5:53:36
(Swim 1900m: 34:35; T1: 6:14; Cycle 90km: 2:58:12; T2: 5:41; Run 21.1 km: 2:08:54) Finished 32nd of 43 in Male 45-49 age group
Althorp Duathlon
73 John Driscoll 2.39.07
(10.7km 43.56/ T1 1.07/44km 1.24.00/ T2 0.51/ 5.7km 29.10) 73/178